Journal of Baltic Science Education

151

Authors: Editorial Board

Contents, JBSE, Vol. 18, No. 2, 2019

158-170

Authors: Burcu Alan, Fikriye Kirbağ Zengin, Gonca Keçeci

In this research the effects of STEM applications, which are aimed to support the integrated teaching knowledge of pre-service science teachers on the problem solving skills of pre-service science teachers were examined. The research was carried out in scope of the mixed method design of convergent parallel design. The research was conducted with pre-service science teachers of experimental group (n=31) and control group (n=31) who were studying at Fırat University. STEM applications including Algodoo were carried out with the pre-service teachers in the experimental group for one term. The data of the research were collected through the problem solving inventory test (PSIT), prospects diaries during the process of the pre-service science teachers in the experiment group. Quantitative data were analyzed using unpaired samples t-test. Statistically significant differences were found in favor of the experimental group when the PSIT post-test scores of the pre-service teachers in the experimental and control groups were analyzed. They said that STEM education is necessary and important for them, much better products arise as a result of gathering different disciplines, but integration of four disciplines is not easy.

184-196

Authors: Paweł Bernard, Karol Dudek-Różycki, Kinga Orwat

Inquiry-based teaching and learning methods are more and more widely used in the teaching natural sciences all over the world. The elements of inquiry are included in many national sciences’ core curricula and indicate that students should be actively involved in acquiring knowledge. This fact changes the teacher’s role in the classroom and the structure of everyday lessons. Independent inquiry helps students to develop various elements of scientific education, gain specific skills and competencies. Consequently, the assessment methods used so far are no longer sufficient and they should be expanded with new strategies, tools, and criteria. In recent years, there were many projects, in which teachers were trained in using both inquiry-based instructions and formative assessment. So far, unfortunately, there has been limited information on how teachers bring theory into practice and combine the new teaching and assessment methods, and how they adopt available teaching materials during everyday classes. This case study explored how experienced chemistry teachers, who have broad content, pedagogical content, and inquiry methodology knowledge, integrate inquiry-based teaching with formative assessment for the first time. The results of the study revealed the main limiting factors and teachers’ dilemmas.

209-226

Authors: Gabriela Deliu, Cristina Miron, Cristian Opariuc-Dan

The aim of this research is to study the merits and complementarity of Construct Mapping and Categorical Principal Components Analysis as two approaches that explore the dimensionality of multiple-choice items in achievement tests. Data from the two forms of the Romanian National Assessment Tests on Science were used to explore the dimensionality of items and to identify potentially problematic items that affect the equivalence of the two parallel forms. The findings confirm that the two tests have at best partial equivalence, but while the two methods both agree on test unidimensionality, they flag in part different items as potentially problematic. The results enable researchers and practitioners to make coherent data-driven decision regarding the use of unidimensional vs multidimensional IRT models.

239-253

Authors: Enes Filiz, Ersoy Öz

Educational Data Mining (EDM) is an important tool in the field of classification of educational data that helps researchers and education planners analyse and model available educational data for specific needs such as developing educational strategies. Trends International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) which is a notable study in educational area was used in this research. EDM methodology was applied to the results of TIMSS 2015 that presents data culled from eighth grade students from Turkey. The main purposes are to find the algorithms that are most appropriate for classifying the successes of students, especially in science subjects, and ascertaining the factors that lead to this success. It was found that logistic regression and support vector machines – poly kernel are the most suitable algorithms. A diverse set of features obtained by feature selection methods are “Computer Tablet Shared”, “Extra Lessons Last 12 Month”, “Extra Lessons How Many Month”, “How Far in Education Do You Expect to Go”, “Home Educational Resources”, and “Student Confident in Science” and these features are the most effective features in science success.

264-275

Authors: Tingxuan Li, Kari L. Clase, Weiling Li, Anne Traynor

This research is motivated by the perspective that when empirical studies and assessment frameworks inform each other, assessments can enrich science education and strengthen its connections to modern science. The research proposes a bioenergy competency assessment for science education. It uses an argument-based approach to validation. Multiple types of validity evidence were collected to support the proposed scores use and scores interpretation. Along with reporting a series of psychometric properties of response data, the findings indicated that empirical response data corresponded to the hypothesized data structure. The latent logistic scale estabished through a generalized partial credit model (GPCM) seemed useful in measuring students’ bioenergy competency.

286-299

Authors: Martin Rusek, Vlastimil Chytrý, Linda Honskusová

This research follows the previous study examining the effect of chemistry education on students’ perception and understanding to the nature of chemistry (NoC) as well as their attitudes towards it as a school subject. Grade 9 students (N = 282) at the end of their compulsory schooling were given a set of open-ended questions focused on their understanding to NoC, perception of chemistry topics’ importance, topics the students found interesting and their evaluation of chemistry as a school subject. The answers were analysed using the open coding approach. It is possible to conclude most of the students do not have a clear idea about the nature of chemistry. Students assess chemistry as a school subject in the middle of the 5 point Likert scale. The results of this research offer the background for a more complex analysis of effects influencing students’s conception of chemistry and its subject matter.

314-316

Authors: Editorial Board

End page, JBSE, Vol. 18, No. 2, 2019

3

Authors: Editorial Board

Contents, JBSE, Vol. 18, No.1, 2019

6-18

Authors: Katja Gobec, Jelka Strgar

This research aimed to assess the knowledge of photosynthesis among students in agricultural education and understand the influence of the contextual factors on it. In photosynthesis, biomass is produced, so understanding these processes is essential for successful agriculture. The research sample consisted of 330 students in agricultural education in Slovenia. Data were collected with a knowledge test and a contextual questionnaire. Better knowledge of photosynthesis was positively related with higher awareness of the importance of biology as a science and of photosynthesis. There was no significant relation between the knowledge of photosynthesis and positive attitudes toward biology lessons. The average achievement on the knowledge test of photosynthesis was 56%: the highest on the item about energy and the lowest on the item about the primary purpose of photosynthesis. Between these two achievements was the knowledge of reactants and products in photosynthesis, and the knowledge concerning chlorophyll. Considering these results, improvements should be made in teaching. For this population, more experimental and less theory-based lessons were suggested. The findings could benefit biology and science teachers in agricultural education and help improve national curriculum for biology in agricultural programmes.

39-50

Authors: Chun-Chu Liu, Tse-Yu Wang

This research was the first research integrating decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) and structural equation modeling (SEM) to analysis factors, including interest in science, value in science and confidence in science, affecting female students’ science achievements from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2011. The research constructed two causal models base on mutual effect of value in science and confidence in science by DEMATEL analysis. The causality of two factors in model 1 was value in science affected confidence in science and model 2 vice versa. According to the results of SEM analysis, fit indices of CFI, GFI and AGFI in model 1 were 0.851, 0.796 and 0.745; in model 2 were 0.818, 0.772, and 0.873. And results showed that female students had better fitness in model 1; in other words, the causality of value in science to confidence in science might have an important effect on the science achievement of female students. Lastly, these findings could provide not only a different perspective for future researches but also a useful insight as a reference for policy making and improvement by relevant decision makers.

63-76

Authors: Bevo Wahono, Chun-Yen Chang

The development and deployment of STEM education in every continent and country are different. An instrument to access the current situation of the application, knowledge, as well as attitude towards STEM education, is necessary. This research aimed to design and develop a valid instrument that can be used to assure the quantitative degree of attitude, knowledge, and application of STEM (AKA) by science teachers. Research data were collected from 137 Indonesian secondary school science teachers. In order to determine the validity of the scale, reliability test, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), as well as the content and face validity from experts were used. Results showed that the designed and developed AKA instrument was adequate to reliabilities and validities as well as can be used to collect data. The development of AKA instrument enables users worldwide to obtain information about the development of STEM as well as the problems and challenges faced by science teachers in the field. Further work is also suggested.

90-104

Authors: Ayşegül Ergün

In Turkey, it is predicted that the need for STEM employment in the 2016-2023 period will be close to one million and that about 31% of this need will not be met. Therefore, the identification of students’ interest in STEM careers in middle-school is regarded as important. The aim of this research was to identify the interest of middle-school students in STEM careers. The sample of the research was made up of 892 students who received education in four middle-schools in the Aegean region of Turkey. In this research which was of the descriptive survey model, the STEM Career Interest Questionnaire was used to collect data. As a result of research, it was determined that the interest of male students in STEM careers is more positive compared to the female students. It was found that the interest in careers in terms of grade level did not display any differences in the area of technology, whereas it displayed differences in the areas of science, engineering and mathematics. In addition, it was identified that the interest in STEM careers displayed differences in terms of grade level and that as the grade level increases, the interest in STEM careers decreases.

117-131

Authors: Zvezdan Z.Gagić, Sonja J. Skuban, Branka N. Radulović, Maja M. Stojanović, Olivera Gajić

Primary school students generally lack motivation for learning physics, which they perceive as a difficult subject. In order to overcome this problem, it is necessary to apply appropriate teaching approach. The aim of this research was to assess the educational efficiency of mind maps in physics and students’ involvement when this approach is used. A pre-test – post-test control group design was used. The sample of this research consisted of 113 seventh-grade students divided into an experimental and a control group. The students in the experimental group were taught physics using mind maps and the students in the control group were taught using conventional teaching approach. The data were collected by using two physics knowledge tests and perceived mental effort scale. The data were analyzed using ANOVA, t-test and chi-square test. The obtained results showed that the educational efficiency of teaching with the use of mind maps was greater than the efficiency of conventional teaching approach. Besides that, the students’ involvement in the experimental group was higher than the one in the control group. The implementation of mind maps in teaching physics in primary schools can increase students’ motivation for learning physics and lower their mental effort.

147-148

Authors: Editorial Board

End page, JBSE, Vol. 18, No.1, 2019

911

Authors: Editorial Board

Contents, Vol. 17, No. 6, 2018, JBSE

918-934

Authors: Vesna Oražem, Iztok Tomažič

Wolf (Canis lupus) conservation is multidimensional. Its aspects include the consensus between different interest groups. The present research aimed to assess the attitude and knowledge of the students (N = 483 students from three schools age 14-19) enrolled in the environmentalist, veterinary and agricultural technician study programmes through a questionnaire, as their profession represents a part of this multidimensional consensus. The research results indicate that students have neutral to positive attitudes toward wolves, generally. Their knowledge of wolves, however, is limited. Agricultural technicians showed the most negative attitudes toward wolves and the lowest knowledge. Overall, correlations between all attitudinal dimensions and correlations between attitudinal dimensions and knowledge were found, with the highest correlations between conservation dimension and all other dimensions including knowledge. The research findings support the widespread assumption that education within the above-mentioned study programmes should focus also on the current socio-scientific issues of animal conservation. Special attention should be given to the education of agricultural technicians as their utilitarian view could interfere with the effective conservation of large carnivores.

945-959

Authors: Zehra Ozdilek, Seda Okumus, Kemal Doymus

This research was conducted to facilitate the conceptual understanding of the solutions that contain abstract concepts and not to understand easily. The aim of this research is to determine the effect of applied methods on the achievement level of prospective science teachers and conceptual understanding level at the particulate nature of matter in solution chemistry. The research was conducted with 58 prospective science teachers and a pre-test/posttest non-equivalent quasi-experimental design was used. Three experimental groups were determined as model supported Reading Writing Application method of cooperative learning (n=20), model supported Students Teams Achievement Divisions method of cooperative learning (n=20), and model supported individual learning method (n=18). The data collected with a Particulate Nature of Matter Test (PNMT) and a Module Test (MT). For analyzing data descriptive statistics, one–way ANOVA, and ANCOVA were used. The results showed that there was no significant effect with respect to the achievement level. According to findings from the post test of MT, all groups were more successful in terms of correct understanding of the solutions compared with the pre-tests.

972-985

Authors: Nia Erlina, Endang Susantini, Wasis, Iwan Wicaksono, Paken Pandiangan

Evidence-Based Reasoning (EBR) is a framework of inquiry-based teaching for developing scientific reasoning. This research aims to analyze the effectiveness of EBR in inquiry-based Physics teaching to improve students' scientific reasoning. Applying Slovin formula for sample determination, the research involved 139 upper-secondary school students with similar prior knowledge. This research used one group pre-test post-test design with replication. The effectiveness of teaching on improving scientific reasoning was analyzed by using Paired Sample T-test. ANOVA was used to analyze the consistency of the teaching effectiveness across in test group. The findings indicated that EBR effectively improved students' scientific reasoning in inquiry-based Physics teaching based on two main grounds. On the first, the significance was ensured by N-gain category of scientific reasoning component, which proved (a) control of variables reaching high category, (b) proportional thinking at moderate category; c) probabilistic thinking reaching moderate category, (d) hypothetical-deductive reasoning attaining low category; and (e) correlational thinking achieving low category. In addition, the level of scientific reasoning has attained the experience characterized by slightly imperfect answers. Students voiced positive response to EBR, which stated that it helped them engage in scientific reasoning in Physics learning. They also voiced the general opinion on EBR and inquiry-based learning in general.

1005-1016

Authors: Gülşah Gürkan, Sibel Kahraman

Today, there is a great discrepancy between the number of recipient patients on waiting lists for an organ transplant and the number of donated organs. Negative attitudes toward organ donation are important factors in the lack of donors. Education is an important tool to change attitudes, so it is important to determine the attitudes of teachers and pre-service teachers. The aim of this research was to develop a reliable and valid scale to evaluate pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards organ transplantation and donation (OTD). The attitude scale development process was conducted on three different pre-service teachers’ groups for the purposes of performing the exploratory factor analysis (n=208), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) (n=480) and test-retest correlation (n=62) of the scale. It was established that the scale had two factor structure consisting of a total of 20 items. It was determined that the two factors determined explain 61.749% of the total variance. The CFA values confirmed the two-factor model with acceptable goodness of fit indices. The Cronbach Alpha coefficient for the total scale was calculated as .900. Test-retest reliability was calculated as .951. Finally, the results demostrated that this scale is able to measure pre-service teachers’ attitudes related to OTD use reliably.

1034-1045

Authors: Päivi Kousa, Maija Aksela, Vesna Ferk Savec

School-industry collaboration can be an effective way to implement STSE issues to teaching. However, teachers´ negative beliefs, lack of knowledge, resources, support and opportunities to collaborate with companies can impede the efficient implementation. In this case-study, 42 Finnish and Slovenian pre-service teachers´ STSE beliefs were first examined before and after the school-industry collaboration course by survey. After the course, beliefs of 8 Finnish pre-service teachers were analyzed in more detail by open-ended questionnaires and reflective writing. The pre-service teachers were more confident to teach STSE issues after the course in both countries. However, they needed more support and knowledge from the community members they collaborated with (i.e. representatives of industries, university teacher, student colleagues and school teachers). The industry-based teaching material was considered beneficiary especially for mixed-ability classrooms and the whole course was regarded useful for future practices. The results of this research highlight the importance of pre-service teacher education and practices with STSE issues. The positive and negative beliefs should be examined frequently already during the pre-service education in order to develop tools for teacher support and encouragement. This research promotes a practical example and ideas of a local school-company collaboration.

1056-1060

Authors: Editorial Board

End page, Vol. 17, No. 6, 2018, JBSE

747

Authors: Editorial Board

Contents, JBSE, Vol. 17, No. 5, 2018

751-764

Authors: Irwanto, Eli Rohaeti, Anti Kolonial Prodjosantoso

This research explored the level of students’ basic and integrated Science Process Skills (SPS) based on their academic majors, gender, and grade levels at the end of a chemistry laboratory course. Convenience sampling was used to select 298 undergraduate students at the Yogyakarta State University, Indonesia. A survey method was used, and the data were collected using the Basic SPS (BSPS) and Integrated SPS (ISPS) Observation Checklist. The results showed that the students’ basic and integrated SPS were considered medium and low respectively. Furthermore, there was a significant gap in the students’ performance based on their majors, gender and grade levels. Surprisingly, it was found that the perception and social convention that males are stronger than females in science appears not to be the case among students. Moreover, there was a moderate positive and significant correlation between students’ basic and integrated SPS. Students with a high basic SPS score had the tendency to obtain a higher integrated SPS score. Therefore, it is concluded that prior to starting lab course activities, lecturers need to determine their students’ process skills in order to plan in such a manner that they can assist to raise their students’ current basic and integrated SPS.

778-799

Authors: Bilge Can, Asiye Bahtiyar, Hasret Kökten

Science education emphasizes the development of individuals' ability to make comments, reasoning, and critical reflection while expressing their scientific thoughts. In this sense, future science teachers have great responsibility to develop those skills of the learners and their meaningful learning. Many researches emphasize hermeneutical thinking for disciplines such as mathematics and science to create meaningful learning. The current research aimed to reveal pre-service science teachers’ hermeneutical perspectives about science and to determine their existing ideas. For this aim, scientific problems presented to pre-service science teachers via scenarios, and how they developed their approaches to solve these problems, and whether they used hermeneutics in this process were examined. The hermeneutical perspectives of pre-service teachers were selected as a single case -by using qualitative research method- to have a deep understanding of their hermeneutical perspectives. The research group consisted of nine third-year-students. Semi-structured interviews prepared by the researchers were applied before and after the intervention in the research conducted for 14 weeks in Science Teaching Laboratory Applications-I course. The data were analysed by a descriptive analysis method. It has been evidenced that science-related hermeneutical perspectives of the pre-service science teachers have developed as a result of the problem-based scenario studies.

812-827

Authors: Iqbal Limatahu, Wasis, Suyatno Sutoyo, Binar Kurnia Prahani

CCDSR teaching model is physics teaching with the scientific activities by design to improve science process skills and its learning. This research was conducted to develop and produce a qualified CCDSR teaching model to improve the science process skills of pre-service physics teachers. The analysis of CCDSR teaching models’ quality was done by using mean validity score, Cronbach’s coefficient alpha, Paired t-test, N-gain, and ANOVA test. The results showed that the CCDSR teaching model was proved to be qualified (valid, practical, and effective) to improve the science process skills of pre-service physics teachers. Based on response results was that the CCDSR teaching model can improve the learning skills of science process skills (designing and implementing science process skills learning) owned by pre-service physics teachers. The implication of this research is that the CCDSR teaching model can be an innovative solution to improve science process skills of pre-service physics teachers.

838-850

Authors: Regina Soobard, Helen Semilarski, Jack Holbrook, Miia Rannikmäe

This research was based on the concern that students didn’t see the need for the acquisition of science skills and knowledge perceived as important in relation to different society issues and the world of work. The aim was to determine gymnasium students perceived self-efficacy towards working life skills as well as science curriculum, content-related topics. The sample was composed of grade 12 (N=1375) 18-19-year-old students. Data were obtained using a 4-point Likert scale questionnaire seeking to determine students’ perceived self-efficacy towards working life skills and topics in the science curriculum linked to disciplinary core ideas. In general, students perceived their self-efficacy to be above average towards most needed working life skills. However, it was much lower in areas related to problem-solving skills and understanding the nature of science. Results also indicated that the self-efficacy associated with purely Physics curriculum-related topics stood out as being much lower than for the other school science subject areas. Findings suggested there was a need to re-thinking the way science content was presented to students and to consider whether and how this could be restructured around core ideas in science in order to promote the development of problem-solving skills as an important aspect in enhancing working life skills.

867-877

Authors: Kuen-Yi Lin, Shao-Chuan Lu

Energy literacy is a key factor in ensuring the protection of the natural environment. Numerous studies on energy literacy have demonstrated the development of instructional methods to promote the willingness to save energy as a critical research subject. Through a project-based activity, this research explored how hands-on activities improve the energy literacy of students. A quasi-experimental design was adopted, namely a pre-test and post-test nonequivalent control group design. In total, 77 senior high school students participated in a 6-week teaching experiment. A single-factor analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and multiple regression analyses were employed to analyze the collected data. The main findings were as follows: (1) Project-based hands-on activities helped improve the energy literacy of senior high school students; however, the effect was not statistically significant in both experimental and control groups. (2) The key factor influencing the energy conservation behavior of senior high school students was energy-related attitudes following the project-based learning process.

887-903

Authors: Serpil Kilic Depren

Turkey is ranked at the 54th out of 72 countries in terms of science achievement in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey conducted in 2015, which is a very big disappointment for that country. The aim of this research was to determine factors affecting Turkish students’ science achievements in order to identify the improvement areas using PISA 2015 dataset. To achieve this aim, Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS) and Classification and Regression Trees (CART) approaches were used and these approaches were compared in terms of model accuracy statistics. Since Singapore was the top performer country in terms of science achievement in PISA 2015 survey, the analysis results of Turkey and Singapore were compared to each other to understand the differences. The results showed that MARS outperforms the CART in terms of measuring the prediction of students’ science achievement. Furthermore, the most important factors affecting science achievements were environmental optimism, home possessions and science learning time (minutes per week) for Turkey, while the index of economic, social and cultural status, environmental awareness and enjoyment of science for Singapore.

531

Authors: Editorial Board

Contents, JBSE, Vol. 17, No. 4, 2018

535-550

Authors: Manihar Situmorang, Marudut Sinaga, Jamalum Purba, Sapnita Idamarna Daulay, Murniaty Simorangkir, Marham Sitorus, Ajat Sudrajat

This research aimed to provide an innovative chemistry learning material with guided tasks to improve students’ competence in Chemistry. It involved 180 students enrolled in the Analytical Chemistry course at State University of Medan in academic year of 2016/2017. The samples were purposively selected and divided into two groups. The research consisted of several steps including enrichment, innovation and standardization of learning material, followed by implementation of the developed learning material in class. A set of good quality learning material equipped with the guided task for Gravimetry topic has been provided. It contained relevant contextual examples, laboratory works, students’ activities, multimedia, and hyperlink to trustworthy websites. Implementation of innovative learning material has been conducted by using a set of developed learning material in the experimental class while the existing textbook was used in the control class. The research findings highlighted several points: (1) well-implemented innovative learning material was effective to improve the students’ competence; (2) learning outcome in experimental class was found higher than that in control class; (3) the guided task in the learning package facilitated the students to learn the selected chemistry topic independently which in turn shifted student learning style from lecturer-oriented to student-oriented; (4) the guided task not only made the students be familiar with searching for scientific documents to complete the given tasks but also improved the students’ ability to write and organize their assignments; (5) students’ academic attitudes, observed during the learning activities, were categorized as very good.

564-575

Authors: Ahmad Yani, Asep Mulyadi, Mamat Ruhimat

This research attempted to find whether spatial intelligence (without context) has a correlation to (contextual) spatial ability and affects geographic skills as crystallized ability (Gc). It employed the descriptive method with subjects including students at the primary, junior high, and senior high schools. The data were collected through two instruments, namely test and questionnaire. Data of test results were processed by tabulation technique and correlated for the scores of spatial intelligence, spatial ability, and geographic skills. The results show that spatial intelligence (Gf) tended to increase from the level of primary to junior high and to senior high school level, whereas spatial ability (Gc) and geographic skills (Geo-s) tended to decrease. Despite the decline, all three (Gf, Gc, and Geo-s) had the potentials for improvement. Thus, geography teachers are encouraged to participate in improving students’ spatial and geographic skills, so students can develop their potentials optimally for geographic skills and future career development.

590-604

Authors: Mirjam Burget, Emanuele Bardone, Margus Pedaste, Katrin Saage

Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) has recently gained wider importance in the European Union (EU) as an emergent framework informing the governance of science. While a growing body of literature describing RRI and its main conceptual dimensions has appeared in the last seven years or so and in several policy documents, the European Commission has emphasized the need to promote science education in the RRI context, there is no theoretical elaboration of how RRI can be meaningfully integrated into the practice of science education. In order to address this problem, the present research aimed at inquiring into the way in which science teachers make sense of RRI in school. Data were gathered with individual semi-structured interviews from 29 science teachers working in comprehensive schools and hobby schools. Abductive content analysis combining data and conceptual dimensions of RRI was used. In the light of how the science teachers in our sample have made sense of RRI, four theoretical categories have emerged: (1) meaning making; (2) taking action; (3) exploring; and (4) inclusion. These findings have important implications for developing a theory of RRI which can be beneficial for researchers as well as teachers for meaningfully integrating RRI into science education.

620-632

Authors: Miha Slapničar, Valerija Tompa, Saša A. Glažar, Iztok Devetak

Learning and presenting chemical concepts at the triple level of chemical concepts provides opportunities for the development of misconceptions. The research aimed to identify potential misconceptions of chemical concepts: the states of matter, a pure substance, a mixture, an element, a compound, a physical change, and a chemical reaction at the sub-micro level when solving problems incorporating sub-microrepresentations. A total of 188 14-year old students, attending six different primary schools, participated in the research. A chemistry achievement test comprising five problems at the macroscopic, sub-micro, and symbolic levels was used to obtain data about students' misconceptions of selected concepts. The results showed that the majority of students had formed inadequate mental models (misconceptions) for the chemical concept of the liquid state of water (66.5%). The lowest level of misconceptions is related with the gaseous state of matter, because almost all students (98.5%) solved the problem correctly. It can be concluded that the results of the research are significant for chemistry teachers because they can: select and apply adequate educational strategies to avoid the deepening or development of misconceptions and make the courses practically oriented by analysing students’ misconceptions and develop teaching strategies to minimise these problems in the chemistry classroom.

649-661

Authors: Shao-Na Zhou, Hua Xiao

The ability to predict students’ ideas or performances is commonly recognized as an indicator to measure teachers’ knowledge of student learning difficulties. This research focuses on identifying pre-service science teachers’ knowledge of student learning difficulties on Mechanics, as well as comparing pre-service science teachers’ predictions to student reasoning on the causes of their learning difficulties. The populations consist of 479 pre-service science teachers and 1,020 students taking physics as a separate science course. Two versions of the questionnaires are designed, with teacher- and student- oriented questions separately. From the results, inconsistencies are observed between two groups of populations. Pre-service science teachers either over- or under-predict student learning difficulties in some special domains. The results show that the physics content knowledge factor attracts great attention from both students and pre-service science teachers as the cause of student learning difficulties. The research results are important for pre-service science teachers to realize the gap between their own perspectives and students’ actual learning difficulties.

674-687

Authors: Sein Shin, Arif Rachmatullah, Minsu Ha, Jun-Ki Lee

This research examined longitudinal trajectories of Korean students’ motivation to learn science using group-based trajectory modeling (GBTM). The changes in five motivational constructs were focused in this research: self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation, grade motivation, self-determination, and career motivation. In addition, the relationship between academic track of students and each trajectory group was examined. Using Science Motivation Questionnaire II, data from 255 male high school students were collected during five semesters. Longitudinal data were analyzed by GBTM.. Chi-square analysis was also conducted to examine the relationships between academic track and each trajectory. As a result, it was found that students shared the same trajectory patterns in self-efficacy. Otherwise, two distinct trajectory groups (‘high’ and ‘low’) were found in each four constructs. There were significant correlations between academic track and trajectory groups. The findings of this research suggest that Korean science educators need to consider individual student’s longitudinal trajectory of motivation to provide better science teaching and learning.

711-727

Authors: Zulfiani Zulfiani, Iwan Permana Suwarna, Sujiyo Miranto

Students with their different learning styles also have their own different learning approaches, and teachers cannot simultaneously facilitate them all. Teachers’ limitation in serving all students’ learning styles can be anticipated by the use of computer-based instructions. This research aims to develop ScEd-Adaptive Learning System (ScEd-ASL) as a computer-based science learning media by accommodating students’ learning style variations. The research method used is a mixed method at junior high schools in Tangerang Selatan. The final product of the research is a special learning media appropriate to students’ visual, aural, read/write and kinesthetic learning styles. The uniqueness of the media is its form of integrated science materials, accommodating fast and slow learners, and appropriate to their learning styles. ScEd-Adaptive Learning System as a developed computer-based science learning media was declared as good and valid by four media experts and five learning material experts. ScEd-ALS for kinesthetic style has a high effectivity to improve students learning mastery (100%), consecutively aural (63%), read/write (55%), and visual (20%). This media development can be continued with the Android version or iOS to make it more operationally practical.

742-744

Authors: Editorial Board

End page, Vol. 17, No. 4, 2018